Browsing: Military

A Brief History On November 1, 1911, the first known dropping of a bomb from an airplane in combat took place, ushering in one more way for human beings to kill each other.  This first incident was merely an Italian pilot dropping 2 hand grenades from his rudimentary airplane on a Turkish position in Libya, but soon airplanes made specifically for bombing and dropping bombs specifically made for use by airplanes would darken the skies above battlefields and cities alike. Digging Deeper The first bomber airplane was adapted for bombing not by one of the world’s great powers, but by…

A Brief History On October 29, 1918, a disheartened and disgusted German Navy had enough of the slaughter, mismanagement, and bungling of World War I and mutinied when ordered to sail out for one last ‘glorious’ mission that amounted to a suicide mission when the war was already lost. Digging Deeper The German High Seas Fleet had basically been bottled up in port after the enormous naval Battle of Jutland, in which an outnumbered Imperial German fleet acquitted itself quite well.  Despite many pleas by the Navy for other chances to contribute to the war effort, German leadership kept them…

A Brief History On October 27, 1914, the virtually brand new British Super-Dreadnaught battleship, HMS Audacious, hit a mine off the North coast of Ireland and sunk without ever being used in combat.  Of course, the British government did not tell the truth to the British people, a disturbing trend followed by governments all over the world throughout history. Digging Deeper Audacious was commissioned in August of 1913, a state of the art King George V class battleship, 598 feet long and displacing 23,400 metric (long) tons.  Armed with a main battery of 10 X 13.5 inch guns in 5…

A Brief History On October 25, 1415, the Battle of Agincourt was fought between the English personally led by King Henry V and the French, led by representatives of King Charles VI, resulting in a history changing victory by the English over the greater numbers of the French. Digging Deeper The English army was manned by a preponderance of bowmen armed with the famed English longbow.  A weapon much more powerful than the hunting bows of today, the longbow required a strong man trained over a long period of time to employ it properly.  Designed for mass volleys rather than…

A Brief History On October 24, 1990, the Italian Prime Minister addressed the Italian parliament about the existence of Operation Gladio, a NATO program in Italy and other countries, even some non-treaty nations, whereby a secret army would wage guerrilla war against the Soviets should they overrun any of these countries. Digging Deeper During World War II, the British set up their Home Guard to fill this role in case Britain was overrun by the Germans.  The idea is to have loyal patriots spread throughout the land, trained in sabotage and communications skills with secret caches of arms conducting secret…